Howell 1 shot off cut
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Charles Howell's quest to make his fifth cut in his hometown major fell one birdie short Friday.
Howell shot a 2-under 70 in the second round, but he left the course with no control of his weekend destiny and missed the cut by a stroke. It turned out he needed to break 70 for the first time in 22 competitive rounds at Augusta National Golf Club to stick around.
"I shot 2-under and it didn't play easy today," Howell said. "I played well today, so we'll see."
Howell had makeable birdie putts on every hole but No. 11 on the back nine but sank only two of them, on Nos. 10 and 14.
"They're not the easiest, most straightforward things in the world to read," said Howell of the putting lines. "You can have good putts that don't go in. My speed was good on most of them, but not quite the right reads."
It was a three-putt on the par-5 15th that might have been the toughest to swallow.
"I've actually never had that putt before," Howell said of his 50-footer from the back right to the new front-left pin position. "It was a lot faster than I thought it would be. That first putt caught me a bit off guard there."
Howell did not take advantage of the par-5s, playing them in only 1-under par -- making birdie on No. 8 both days and a bogey on 15 Thursday. Consequently, his seventh Masters start ended in disappointment.
Those closest to him believe there's an element of wanting it too much that makes it easy for Howell to beat himself up when things get tough, as it did in his opening 78.
"I think he tries a little too hard sometimes," said Kevin Smeltz, Howell's swing instructor. "It's obviously an important place to him, but I think he tries pretty hard in general. ... Sometimes you just have to allow it to happen."
Larry Mize certainly understands how tough that is for someone born and reared in Augusta.
"I think it can be extremely difficult," said Mize, the 1987 Masters champion, after missing the cut himself on Friday. "You can know all the right things to do, and it sounds doable or fairly easy, but it's not. ... It's a lot mental to get yourself in the position to play well here."
FRIDAY HIGHLIGHT: Drained a 25-foot birdie putt on 10 and stuck his approach to 3 feet on 14 to set up another birdie. HE SAID: "I've never bested 70 out here, so it would be nice to do that in the tournament. I'd just love to have two more cracks at it." THEY SAID: Former Masters champ and native Augustan Larry Mize: "I think he's got a tremendous amount of pressure on him, just growing up here with a lot of local people rooting for him. They all want him to do so well. He probably feels more pressure this week than he does any other to try and play well. It's tough."
